The Mystic Rings
by Phephe
Summary: This story is about Squall and Rinoa going through a tough patch. Rinoa has something that the evil Tenogards want. The Tenogards took Squall's sister's life so he protects Rinoa as she is next. Plus there was a prophecy...


AN: This story is about the final fantasy characters, in a complete and different way, with dragons involved well the human shaped ones anyway my lovely creation.

Now so that you know, this is how the characters, of the Tenogard's that I made up are pronounced, just so you know as they are very complicated names lol! They will be classified as daemon's to begin with as they are unknown creatures to the people, they are then called their real names, as a group/creature, they are known as the Tenogard's

Tenogardhtrae (Ten-o-guar-deth-rae),

Tenogardrednuht (Ten-o-guard-read-naught),

Tenogardrotcetorp (Ten-o-guard-roatch-torp)

Tenogarddniw (Ten-o-guard-new).

Tenogarderif (Ten-o-gar-de-rif)

The Mystic Rings

Chapter One Meet Tenogarderif

She entered the temple at a run she was confused and frightened. The rain was coming down hard and fast as the darkness shrouded her, the black cloak draped over her head and shoulders camouflaged her. She barged through the door; she was making too much noise. The man standing at the front of the altar turned in a hurry, as he heard the big mahogany doors slam open he wondered who would dare to disturb his sermon in such a horrific way, the room was big, loads of people were kneeling on cushions on the floor, facing the altar. The altar itself was covered in carvings, carvings that had been carved by the almighty temple priest, whom was the man standing before it. He wasn't actually a priest but more of a protector, who looked after their small town from anything that may attack it. The floor was covered in cobble stone, all smooth and shining from the respect that people give it, some even volunteer to wash it, as they see it as a privilege to wash the floor where the temple priest has once stood and fought the most dangerous monster that had come to their village. The girl was running at the temple priest drenched in rain, dripping water on to the cobblestone floor. She ran past all the people that were there, each and every one of them giving her looks of distaste, her feet echoing throughout the whole room, straight into the arms of the bewildered and angry temple priest. The girl fell to her knees in tears, her sobs echoing the more around the room, as her foot steps became low, around the room, everyone began to stare and whispering to each other. The temple priest flung the hood off of her head in Frustration. As he saw her face, everything went silent.

"Rinoa!" the name echoed around the room as everyone muttered her name, if there were anyone who would never disturb a sermon or even degrade it in any way it was Rinoa, she was the most respectable person that every was, the people looked around and by the time they looked back at the altar, Rinoa and the man were gone! All that was left was the black cape, lying before the altar that stood there in all its pride and glory.

"Hurry Rinoa!" He held her by the arm pulling her through the long, dark, dreary corridors, the sound of their feet echoing throughout it, the corridor had many doors, all of which were un-locked, but they ran past all of them. Rinoa knew where it was they were going they were going to the only room that the temple priest kept locked, the room that he had prepared for this very day. The day that the tenogard's would come for her, take her away and according to prophecy to kill her. She had only seen one of the tenogard's though but she was too scared, the temple priest had told her about all of the tenogard's and their powers, this one was the worst, she was too scared to say a word, all she wanted was to feel safe. She had been with this priest since she was a small child. Although he was only four months older than her, he had looked after her protected her, brought her up. That's why she knew she had to go to him, that's why she wanted to, because ever since she was young and alone in the wild, the only thing that made her feel safe was being in his arms.

"Squall please!" She panted falling to the floor in exhaustion, she couldn't take another step, she had ran all the way from the other end of town to get away from the tenogard that was stalking her, she was too put out.

"Rinoa! He's coming we have to move!" Squall turned to her, putting his arms around her to carry her, he continued at a run to the end of the corridor, this was better, her sobs began to soften as she closed her eyes, she felt safe now, in his arms. He ran to the end of the corridor, unlocking it with one hand and he continued to hold Rinoa, her arms around his neck. He entered the door, it lead to a chamber, all that was in the room was a bed. He placed Rinoa upon it. He turned swiftly around locking the chamber door; several locks slide into place, the room was obviously for protection. 'This can't be happening, I remember the last time I faced those things, almost as if it were yesterday…"

_Back flash_

"_Sis? Where are you Sis?" The young boy couldn't possibly remember what had happened previously, it had all happened way too fast, he had kept his eyes closed tightly, as his Sis had dragged him through the forest in order to protect him. When he had finally opened his eyes, he had seen her walking through the trees that stood in front of them. He wanted to find her, he had always been a coward, and he hated all the people that picked on him because of it, so he got onto his feet. "I'm going to be brave Sis! I'm going to find you and we're going to go back home!" He wondered through the trees in search of his Sis! _

_Then he jumped as he heard a noise flare up behind him, there was a noise suddenly echoing through the forest, but where was it coming from? He was so scared he was frozen to the spot "Sis! Sis!" He called out for her but got no reply, he started to run around tears streaming down his face "ELLONE!" He shouted as loud as he could for her but still there was no reply. He fell to his feet as he felt, alone and cowardly! "I'm sorry Ellone I can't do it I can't be brave for you!" Then as he felt a very small hand tap on his shoulder, he jumped and swung around!_

"_Ellone's not here Squall, who are you talking to?" It was a very young girl; it looked like she had been previously crying herself! She smiled at Squall, and then pouncing on him, she held him tightly towards her! "Ellone brought me here, but then she disappeared and I don't understand what to do!" tears started falling from her eyes as she drew away from Squall and he looked into her shining blue eyes! His heart felt strong suddenly as a strange, new, sensation filled his body. He got to his feet and looked at Rinoa._

'_Am I really this pitiful?' He thinks to himself 'She actually seems braver than I was being!' He looks around the forest in aspiration, his legs shaking slightly he tries to regain his seconds of bravery! "Lets go this way, we'll find Ellone soon I promise!" He walks off; Rinoa stood there and watched him, with a stunned and aspirated look on her face! Then she started to follow him, the tears tried from her face, she also begins to have a brave look on her face as she follows Squall in a dignified manner. _

_They start to come to the edge of the forest as they look for Ellone they hear a strange sound, Squall startled looked at Rinoa who hadn't even flinched. "There was a bee!" He had explained, as he was embarrassed at his lack of confidence toward the world, when this girl the same age as him could deal with it so easily. Then he looked through the branches, Rinoa in tow looked over his shoulder. _

"_Come on you little brat!" There was some kind of demon little thing, or so that's what Squall could describe it as. It was like a human shaped dragon! That's when it hit Squall; he felt a little pang in his heart. "Ellone!" he whispered her name, uncertain of what to do to help her. His body seemed to automatically move slightly forward, and then he felt that same soft touch on his shoulder as Rinoa stopped him! He looked at her curiously, this was what they were looking for, Ellone, why was Rinoa stopping him. Rinoa pointed in to direction in which Ellone was, with the human dragon! "Stop squirming already you little pain…" It smacked her hard and she fell to the floor in pain, crying? Squall had never seen her cry before; she had always been the most brave and courageous of the entire orphan's._

_Squall rose to his feet, this was no game this was no someone picking on him, this was life and that was his sister that was getting hit. People, monsters, anything could go for him, but his sis was where he drew the line, nobody ever picked on his sis, she was the nicest, most polite and courageous person he had ever known, the only reason she hadn't yet been adopted was because she wasn't going to leave him behind, even though it meant a much better life. He ran out of the forest towards his sis._

"_Squall no!" Rinoa shouted to him, then covering her mouth realised what she had done, she had pre-warned the daemon that Squall was on his way! The daemon turned and looked at the young boy running towards him, they were it was same size as the children but there was something very familiar about this thing! Squall didn't hesitate as he thought of this thought; he didn't care about anything only of the fact that whatever this 'thing' was it had hurt his sis and that didn't account for anything, he wanted to kill this thing more than life itself! _

_Squall woke up on the floor, Rinoa leaning over him in tears. "Your alive, your alive! Thank god I thought you were dead" She hugged him tightly "You just ran straight at that thing, and it laughed and this whirly windy thing appeared in front of you and you blew away. You went flying all the way back to the edge of the forest. It was going to kill you, but Ellone told it to stop and that she was going to go with it peacefully!" Tears were streaming down Rinoa's face. Squall didn't do much he just sat there looking in the direction in which Ellone had been standing previously. He got to his feet and looked down at Rinoa who was still on her knees tear stricken. "Squall what's wrong?" Squall didn't answer, he did not cry and he was no longer afraid, all he cared about was getting his sis back and nothing else, he wanted his revenge on that thing, for hurting his sis and taking her away. Something caught his eye on the edge of the forest, it was shining in the light, but what was it? Squall left Rinoa on the floor and headed in the direction of the shining light. "Squall? Where are you going?" She got to her feet and watched him, as he continued to walk in the direction of the gleaming item ignoring every word that she spoke to him. As he got closer he realised what it was, it was the weapon that Ellone had, had she had always said that she would one day give it to him and that day would be the day in which he would become a man. There was a note attached to the magnificent gunblade. _

'_**Squall, my dear lil bro, it's alright, I know that your probably scared and confused and that's alright, I don't exactly know what's going on myself, but I do know that they were after someone, I have told them that it was me, and had them chase me for a while so that you and the others could escape. Unfortunately I think the only one's that did escape however was you and Rinoa, protect her my dear lil bro I know you can! Use this weapon and do what you may with it, protect Rinoa and help her, she's not like me and she needs help. Goodbye lil bro. I love you Squall xxxx'**_

_There were a few wet patches on the paper, but what…she had cried when she had wrote this message. Squall felt a sudden burning in his heart, he was angry, for the first time he was angry and had despite in his heart. He had the urge to kill and he was going to do it._

_There was a sudden gust of wind by the orphanage, Squall pulled out the gunblade, it was heavy really heavy, and he struggled to carry it to where his destination was. He dragged it on the floor and ran with all of his might towards the circling wind. Then suddenly there was that same daemon standing there, Squall ran faster, the daemon looked at him. It grabbed Squall's head and lifted him off the ground and looked into his face laughing at him, as he struggled to lift the gunblade and attack him. It tuted then threw Squall aside, Squall was light and flew more of a distance than the daemon had expected, it shrugged it's shoulders. Rinoa ran up to Squall and fell to the floor next to him, the grass was long and covered them both._

"_I wasn't after a boy anyway!" the daemon muttered, looking around all the area that was not demolished. _

_Squall looked up in astonishment, he had heard what the daemon had said, but when he looked at Rinoa, it looked like she hadn't heard anything! 'Protect Rinoa, that's what it had said in the note, to protect her, is she the one that they're after next?' He went to stand up, but Rinoa held him down, he looked at her and she shook her head at him. Squall eased and looked in the direction of the daemon, he frowned as it continued to demolish parts of the orphanage. _

"_Come out, Come out where ever you are you little brat!" more rocks went flying around. Squall lowered himself and in so doing, he put his hand on Rinoa's head and lowered it. It was good that he had done so at just the right time. Suddenly random things started to show up, a thunder bolt, a earthquake, which involved the earth opening up a small hole in the ground, as two more daemon's appeared, these were different though, they were differently shaped and they were completely different colours. _

"_Haven't you found her yet?" Said the yellow daemon, who had appeared from a thunder bolt. A bolt just appeared in it's hand and it through it at a nearby rock, which turned straight to dust._

"_Well if your going to do it like that, your going to pre-warn them of our presence aren't you?" Asked the brown daemon who had appeared from the dirt, of an earthquake._

"_So how would you do it then" replied the yellow one angrily_

"_Like this!" The brown daemon put it's hands on the floor, and the ground started to shake "Now if she is here this is bound to frighten her and she will try to run off, or if she's standing she will fall, and we will see her." They were half right, Rinoa was scared and she wanted to run tears streaming down her face. Squall was smarter than that, and he could still hear everything that was being said, he held her down to the floor, he failed to protect Ellone he wasn't going to do the same with Rinoa._

"_Squall I'm scared!" whimpered Rinoa beside him. He heard her snivel, then he felt something cold slide down his cheek, he wasn't crying was he? No they weren't tears as he put his hand to his face, he was bleeding, they were really strong what ever those things were, or at least that green one was. Squall fully wiped the blood flowing by his mouth._

"_It's ok I won't let anything happen to you!" Squall frowned not taking his eyes off the daemons standing before him. Rinoa saw him in a new light that day, she had never seen him like this he had always been the silent one, the one who never got anywhere, got into fights, he seemed to always depend on his sister to do everything for him, now that she's gone, he hasn't reacted in the way that she thought he would of._

_A Shimmer then appeared as yet another daemon appeared. "Why…you idiots!" It seemed a lot angrier than any of the others, and this frightened Squall a lot more, this one was pink of all colours, but it scared him a lot more than the others, it was more familiar than the others and seeing it angry made Squall want to run away. "You complete morons, I told you not to do anything drastic! This has taken it too far, I told you the boy is more smarter than you think! Even if he was here he would of taken that girl away and hidden her by now!" Squall knew that it was talking about him, but he didn't know how or why?_

"_The boy? You mean that pathetic excuse of a brother of Ellone's? He was here he tried to attack me again with that stupid sword Ellone always looked after!" The green one replied, Squall felt an extra hatred for this one, unknown to him! The pink daemon looked in the direction of the forest, right in the direction that Squall had ran his attack when he had gained the sword. Squall puzzled also looked in that direction then back at the daemon, who was now looking directly at him, could it see them or was it just Squall's imagination. _

"_You're a complete moron! We can't get them now! Now leave and try not to continue that stupid way you all show off your powers, just shimmer out already! I want to stay here for a little bit I need to be alone!" The pink daemon seemed almost to be in charge of all the other ones it seemed strange somehow, but yet Squall wasn't surprised at all. All the others shimmered out as they were told and the pink and green daemon's were left on their own. "Tenogarddniw, have you something to say?"_

"_Ellone said they were here, she laughed in my face because she fooled us!" The one named Tenogarddniw looked very angry and looked at the pink daemon in the eye, almost as if they were having a staring contest, the first to look down would be the weaker daemon. Tenogarddniw looked away "I'll kill her for this!" Squall was about to pounce for this very reason, he actually started running towards them, but before he got there, Tenogarddniw had shimmered out and the pink daemon had turned around and looked at him. Squall stopped in his tracks._

"_Do you know where she is? Where Rinoa is?" It looked straight into Squall's eyes, this daemon was a lot different to the other one's, but why? Squall shook his head slowly scared of what this daemon would do to him. It walked towards him "You're a brave solider aren't you?" It stood right in front of him, it's hand reaching towards him, Squall closed his eyes ready to take the blow that was about to befall him, but there was nothing, then a stroke on the side of his face. Squall opened his eyes to find that the daemon was not about to attack him, in actual fact it was stroking the hair from his eyes and looking at him wound. It stroked his wound and it healed instantly. "I will give you a chance brave warrior, I want to see what you are worth!" It leant towards Squall's ear to whisper something, Squall didn't understand a word that was being said. The daemon the turned away from him and shimmered in mid walk._

_back to present_

As the years had gone by from this past experience, one by one the daemon's had come back to try and get Rinoa, close calls on every account they had come to winning her and taking her away, but Squall had undertaken the training that his sis had always wanted to give him and he was a lot stronger than the wimpy little boy that he had once been. He had now learnt of all the names of the daemon's and had fought and won against all of them, all except one, the very one he had never seen again until this very day. The brown daemon, Tenogardhtrae, the yellow daemon Tenogardrednuht, the pink one Tenogardrotcetorp and then there was the one that had always haunted his nightmares, the one that he didn't think he could ever really face ever again Tenogarddniw. Each and everyone he had learnt that they all have particular powers. The green the power of wind, the brown the power of earth, the yellow the power of tunder, then the pink had the power to protect, if he ever had to fight that one, then Squall wasn't sure if he could ever defeat her, after all it was because of her that he had not as of yet killed any of the Tenogard's she had made a last appearance at every battle placing a sudden barrier in front of them, but it had never fought Squall.

"Which one was it?" Squall asked as he bolted the last lock and turned to Rinoa. Rinoa still sopping wet, began to weep, fear on her face, she couldn't say. She knew that this was the only tenogard that Squall was afraid of, if she warned him that it was that one before it arrived then he may run away and leave her, but then again he would never do that, that was unlike him, but then again if she didn't tell him he would be shocked at the sight of it, maybe even frozen to the spot as it killed her. She had to tell him as it was the only way, he wouldn't abandon her, he would protect her, at least he could try and protect her.

"It was…it was…" Her sobs grew louder as she began to stutter, she had to get the words out quick before it got here, she had been warned about this one, it was one of the ones that could get anywhere without one little bit of effort.

"Rinoa!" Squall shouted "I need to know because if it's…" he was interrupted as Rinoa screamed. In the very middle of the room a small tornado had erupted. Squall stood in front of Rinoa, although he was brave and showed no fear, it meant nothing, he couldn't fight this when he was young nothing has changed he won't be able to win this time either. Then out of nowhere standing where the tornado was now fading stood a man shaped dragon. Back-flashes of Squall's childhood flashed before his eyes, the pain the suffering he had gone through when he was only a child. This was the one that he was preparing for, this was the one that he reminded himself every day to avoid, and he had even carved the very shape of this one onto the front of the temple altar. Then he felt a rush of anger flow through him as he remembered why he wanted so much revenge on this tenogard in particular. This tenogard had attacked the orphanage that Squall and his sister Ellone had been staying at after their parents had died. The tenogard had taken a good selection of them and killed some of them, he had tortured Squall to near death, in fact if Rinoa hadn't of come along he would of died, but he forced himself back up to look after her, although that the tenogard had already gone he didn't care, she was the only one left at the orphanage. A few days latter when they were in the wild looking for food, they had come back to the rubble that was remanded of their orphanage, the very tenogard had returned, muttering about bringing the wrong orphan to the lair, that the girl he thought it was, was in fact the wrong one "Ellone is going to die for deceiving me!" was his final words as he disappeared. At those words Squall had ran at him to attack him, Rinoa still hidden but it was too late, the tenogard was after a girl he didn't have to right one so that meant that he was after Rinoa, Rinoa had began to sob, Squall comforted her vowing to get stronger and take his revenge, protecting his new found friend in the process.

Although the tenogard was actually a lot small then as well, looks like the tenogard has grew up and become stronger as well.

"Long time no see!" The tenogard was green with spikes all down his back to the tip of his tail. Squall pulled out a sword at his side and ran at the dragon, he didn't care; all he could do now was to try and do his best to protect the girl. The dragon smiled, or what you could call a smile as his sharp, gleaming white teeth protruded from its mouth. All he did was raise his claw like hand, swiping it across Squall's chest. Squall fell, blood weeping from three slashes in his chest, as a huge cry came from the bed where Rinoa sat. Then a golden red ring appeared on his chest; it glowed so brightly the whole room lit up. His wounds healed, what was this ring that had appeared from nowhere, he lifted the ring.

"No!" Yelled the green dragon. Squall slipped it on, and then he began to change. Triangular spikes slowly protruded from his back, as his nose and mouth started to grow and his skin turned to scales. He had turned into a slightly different style, red tenogard. The red tenogard stood up straight, shook its body, as doing so; pieces of clothing fell to the floor, as embers flew off his body.

"Tenogarderif!" whispered the green tenogard obviously scared. The red tenogard looked at it and smiled, and then he opened his jaws as a fireball flew from it and hit the green dragon.

"Yes! I am Tenogarderif! You're Tenogarddniw The joys of having a brain and using it! Now GO!" Tenogarddniw did not hesitate as Tenogarderif breathed another fireball! Tenogarderif then turned on Rinoa, he grabbed her by the throat and lifted her off the bed, so that she was face to face with him, she wept but only softly as she was petrified, she did not scream!

A/N and so that is the end of chapter one. I have rewritten it as it has been said that my first try wasn't all that good so I've tried again rather than giving up lol!

Anyway what do you think is going to happen next, why is it that Squall is now called Tenogarderif, why is he attacking the very girl he spent his whole life to protect, well I know but do you want to find out what happens R&R so that I can improve and get better, that is my life goal anyway and I will post the new chapter soon.

Oh yea and did you realise the irony with each and every name of the Tenogard's lol! Read them backwards here I'll write them out just for you……

Tenogardhtrae (earthdragonet),

Tenogardrednuth (thunderdragonet),

Tenogardrotcetorp (protectordragonet)

Tenogarddniw (winddragonet).

Tenogarderif (firedragonet)


End file.
